Multimedia Messaging Service
Standard way to send messages / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from a mobile phone over a cellular network. Users and providers may refer to such a message as a PXT, a picture message, or a multimedia message.[1] The MMS standard extends the core SMS (Short Message Service) capability, allowing the exchange of text messages greater than 160 characters in length. Unlike text-only SMS, MMS can deliver a variety of media, including up to forty seconds of video, one image, a slideshow[2] of multiple images, or audio.
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The most common use involves sending photographs from camera-equipped handsets.[citation needed][needs update] Media companies have utilized MMS on a commercial basis as a method of delivering news and entertainment content, and retailers have deployed it as a tool for delivering scannable coupon codes, product images, videos, and other information. On (mainly) older devices, messages that start off with text, as SMS, are converted to and sent as an MMS when an emoji is added.[3][4]
The commercial introduction of MMS started in March 2002,[5] although picture messaging had already been established in Japan.[6] The 3GPP and WAP groups fostered the development of the MMS standard, which is now continued by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). MMS was built using the technology of SMS messaging[2] as a captive technology which enabled service providers to "collect a fee every time anyone snaps a photo."[7]